Pittsburg preschool levels the playing field for needy parents

Stephanie Salinas, of Antioch, says goodbye to her daughter Sophia Salinas, 3, at the First Baptist Head Start Woods Manor in Pittsburg, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013. Salinas is a single mom to 3 young children. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)

PITTSBURG -- You don't have to talk to Stephanie Salinas for long to recognize that she's one of those people who doesn't cave when life goes sideways.

She'd served her country and pursued a college education until she had to quit to pay the bills, but last year Salinas found herself with no husband, no job, and three children to feed.

"I was very worried about a lot of things -- it was a difficult situation," said the petite redhead from her Antioch home as her two youngest children noisily played and argued with each other nearby.

These days, however, a local Head Start preschool is making circumstances a little easier.

Salinas had divorced after eight years of marriage; without relatives nearby who could provide a safety net, she accepted the offer of close family friends to come live with them.

Meanwhile, one of her daughters needed help: Although Sophia had an adequate vocabulary, she was much less verbal than other children her age and more often than not didn't clearly communicate her needs and emotions. Instead of asking her mother to hand her a toy she couldn't reach or for help buckling her seat belt, the toddler would whine or cry in frustration.

Thinking her daughter would benefit from a teacher's attention and being around other children, Salinas went online to find a Head Start preschool. As soon as Sophia turned 3 in July, she enrolled her at First Baptist Head Start in Pittsburg, which is part of the annual Share the Spirit campaign benefiting local charities.

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The Pittsburg nonprofit receives federal funds to operate six sites that serve 415 children throughout East Contra Costa County.

Its mission is to prepare the youngsters in those 389 low-income families for kindergarten by teaching literacy as well as the social skills they'll need to succeed in school.

The care -- all of it free -- includes snacks and up to two meals daily, depending on whether children attend a full-day or half-day session, as well as annual dental and medical checkups.

First Baptist Head Start also serves the family as a whole, putting parents in touch with the help they might need to pay their utility bills, come up with the deposit on an apartment or get job training.

Those whose children are enrolled in the daylong, year-round classes must either be attending school themselves or working.

Without a place like Head Start to care for their children, the entire family would suffer, said assistant director Brenda P. Battle.

"It would make a major difference because they would be sitting at home," she said. "The parents wouldn't be able to work or go to school, (and) these children would have a late start because kindergarten requires children to know certain things before they come."

The program has been a boon for Salinas, who has little left over for anything other than the bare necessities after her $500 rent is paid.

Military benefits from her four years in the U.S. Navy covered tuition and books for the online university she recently re-enrolled in, but unemployment compensation coupled with welfare checks still didn't stretch far enough to include child care, and her two younger children weren't old enough for preschool.

Sophia attends the afternoon sessions every day, and Salinas says that over the past five months she's seen significant improvement in her daughter's communication.

Exposed to more talkative children, the once-standoffish little girl has started responding to those who approach her as well as to her teachers, Salinas said.

"She's not all the way out of her shell, but she has come a long way," Salinas said, noting that just last month Sophia began saying her name at the teacher's prompting during roll call.

First Baptist Head Start has helped the 30-year-old Salinas personally as well.

Employees' warm acceptance gives her an emotional boost, she says, and the organization added cheer to the holidays by giving her groceries for a Thanksgiving Day meal -- turkey included -- as well as including her family among those that will be receiving toys, clothes and gift cards for Christmas from individual and corporate donors.

In addition, the preschool helped Salinas apply to a women's organization that awards grants to female heads of households who want to continue their education.

Focused on becoming an ultrasound technician, she's currently spending nearly all her spare time on her studies, taking classes both online and four nights a week at Los Medanos College.

"If I didn't have (Head Start), I wouldn't be as sane emotionally, and Sophia wouldn't have blossomed the way that she has," Salinas said. "This is the happiest I've been in such a long time."

The Share the Spirit campaign, sponsored by the Bay Area News Group, benefits nonprofit agencies in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. To help, clip the coupon accompanying this story or go to https://volunteer.truist.com/vccc/donate.

Readers with questions, and corporations interested in making large contributions, may contact the Volunteer Center of the East Bay, which administers the fund, at 925-472-5760.

share the spirit
The Share the Spirit campaign, sponsored by the Bay Area News Group, benefits nonprofit agencies in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. To help, clip the coupon accompanying this story or go to https://volunteer.truist.com/vccc/donate.
Readers with questions, and corporations interested in making large contributions, may contact the Volunteer Center of the East Bay, which administers the fund, at 925-472-5760.